Precision measurement of distances to objects or obstacles is needed to augment inertial measurements in order to provide accurate navigation solutions to autonomous vehicles. Imagery of a local scene can also be useful to enable “vision-aided” navigation for position determination and trajectory management of autonomous vehicles.
In some cases, environmental conditions may cause certain optical wavelength bands to experience high attenuation, so relying on a single optical band to provide sensor information may be problematic. Furthermore, environmental conditions encountered by an autonomous vehicle may preclude the use of a single imaging technology, such as visible band imaging at night.